Thank you!
 

As I make out my meal plans for my upcoming diet "lifestyle change" I really wanna ask for your support :) I am taking this very seriously and have no plans to fail! I'm SO excited about starting this journey and making a much needed change in my life. God is my strength and he knows my heart but a little encouragement from you guys would help too! :D We are all in this together! It's so great to have that! Thanks again guys for being so welcoming to me here!

You GOT it!
 

:welcome3::welcome: to all our newbies! We've got a very busy place here lately (even busier than usual), which is wonderful for getting and giving helpful support!

We've had a nice, quiet Christmas, since no one could go anywhere due to all the snow, ice, sleet, and freezing rain-I think we got all the varieties of frozen precip possible over our Christmas Eve and Christmas:snowglo:! But, it was really nice to have some quiet time together. Unfortunately, it's also meant that all those cookies I had made in case DS1 and his family came down were just sitting there on the counter screaming to be eaten and eaten we have:T! Oh, well, I know it'll come back off in just a couple days, so I'm not worried, which is a huge improvement from last year, when I'd have been in a depression thinking how much of a failure I was. Lots of thanks to everyone here for all the support through this horrible year and helping me learn that a setback is just temporary:D.

Well, dinner is just about ready, so I need to go set up the table. Having easy hobo dinner tonight-yummy!! Have a great evening, everyone! You're all in my prayers:hug:

:wreath: HI TO RONNIE, and to all our NEWBIES too ~ we had a busy Christmas Day with our guests. We had a real pleasant surprise; one of our guests is a self-taught musician and as soon as he walked in our livingroom said, "Oh, you have an organ!" He promptly sat down and serenaded us all through the evening with Christmas songs!!! What an awesome blessing -- to hear someone who could play so well, show me how my organ can sound with an accomplished player on hand ... this was a special gift to all of us: GOD IS GOOD! I have to say that was our favorite gift of all!

:candy: Today, we just rested as I was exhausted and my poor feeties sure needed a rest. And like RONNI, we enjoyed a few treats of chocolate and nuts, etc but a few days on plan will fix that up, I'm sure. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and DH keeps saying this was the best Christmas that he can remember ... ;)

:ginger: Hope you all have a blessed Christmas week and a restful Sunday tomorrow too! ROSEBUD :hug:

Thanks so much Kim! :) ...I believe this is where I first met you Kim :) I think you mentioned the Wendy Chant program here and I was already reading about it.....so it clicked with me! Cant wait to get started! Hope its going well for you! :)

Ronni and Rosebud...it sounds like you two had great Christmases. :)

Mine was great too! We ALMOST had a white Christmas but only a few flurries that didn't hang around. A white Christmas here is a big deal. There hasn't been one here that I ever remember...( I am 36) :( .....oh well....it was great anyway! My daughter is 12 and just to see her face light up always warms my heart!

Hear is looking at the new year and all the excitement and new adventures it may bring, and hopefully tons of weight loss! :D

Thanks guys!

:woohoo: I LOVE NEWBIES!
:welcome:

What a wonderful and uplifting place this is!

We are doing well in Northern MI - a busy day with family yesterday. Because we weren't able to travel this year, we spent about 7 hours on the phone/web cam yesterday. What a blessing technology is when you want to spend time with family that is so far away!

Christmastide blessings to all! I continue to keep each of you in my prayers.

Blessings!

Laurie

HI GALS ~ :)

Taking a few minutes to try and catch up.... WHEW! a lot going on around here the last few days as I am sure it has been around your homes....what a wonderful time of year! :celebrate: Happy Birthday Jesus :angel:

I am home alone with the mutts as Angie has gone up to see her mom and sisters/family...I stayed back to babysit the spoiled brats ;) And the fact that knucklehead nephew's 18 yr. old girlfriend flew out from Minnesota to visit him while he is here on leave from the NAVY. She got in yesterday...sweet girl.

Christmas Eve was nice but eventful...We went to early service as Angie had bells, my step-d is here from NY for her college break so she played too. We came home and 22 friends and family came to have dessert, and sandwiches for those that hadn't eaten....we had drawn names at Thanksgiving, our family tradition between adults and older children. We exchange $25 gifts.

A very nice evening until we noticed Aunt Val was hunched over and looking very pale....she is 85...long story short....firetrucks and paramedics came...took her to the hospital...we thought she had a stroke...doctors said no...she was not responding to anything we tried to do for the 10 minutes before the EMT's came....still not sure about the whole deal but she is in her assisted living home now and resting.

My son and daughter in law are in Florida, with her family, having a great time with their little nephew and niece. Oh by the way, for those that voted and didn't catch my General Chatter post last week...she didn't win Charger Girl of The Year :( A nice honor for her though to be one of the 3 nominated out of 28 girls. My daughter and son in law are up northern California visiting his grandparents, they were at my house Christmas Eve. I will post a couple of pics from Nicole's last Charger game where the winner was announced...she is the white brunette.

We will celebrate Christmas with my kids/spouses and step-d and nephew on New Years Eve day, first time that we can all get together. Then we will do it again 9 days later to celebrate Angie's 50th birthday. My son and dil are able to come since the Chargers will have a play-off bye that week-end :carrot:

Since my kids were gone, step-d was with her dad and nephew went to his mom's house Angie and I were all alone Christmas Day....so sad :(....;) We celebrated by going to see Sherlock Holmes then went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for a late lunch which soon became dinner with the leftovers we brought home. Juan, a friend of my son's, came by and dropped off a bunch of tamales on Christmas Eve day....Angie just had a tamale for dinner and I added one to my enchilada and rice and beans leftover from lunch...we continued our personal family tradition of Mexican food for Christmas Day...but this time a real Mexican cooked it! :)

It is taking me a lot of time to post here.... my son and I are texting each other during the USC game....I am so slow with this one finger stuff! :D Plus I am doing more game watching than typing here...

so...I will leave you for now but I promise to get in here tomorrow after church....:hug:

and a big shout-out to the NEW KIDS HERE!! :carrot:

Hi everyone! I am breathing a big sigh that Christmas is over! I had an okay day I guess. It was a bit depressing to not have any family to celebrate with. I spent the evening at my pastor and her husband's house with two other people from the church (one of whom is also a minister and teaches at my school in theology) and a friend of my minister's. I was shy, and felt a bit out of place because I am a lot younger, but they were really nice. It was kind of funny to be drunk under the table by a bunch of clergy. Hahaha. Didn't consume too many calories either, since my pastor and her husband don't have dairy or sugar. We had lamb, which I am not a big fan of, but I ate some so I wouldn't be rude! I am feeling weird and empty today. I feel sad because they are celebrating with their family tomorrow and I don't have any family here right now to celebrate with. Also feeling clingy, because I am close with my pastor and it was so nice to spend Christmas with her, and I know she is retiring in the spring, so I don't know what I am going to do without that support in my life. Geez, this is getting depressing...

Anyway, I did well yesterday, but had chinese food (a ton of it) the two days leading up to Christmas, and today I had mexican, so I am pretty sure by the time I do weigh, I will be up.

Hey there ya'll!

I'm glad to hear that everyone had a safe Christmas.

This was the first year since moving to AZ that we haven't been back to CA for Christmas. All of our families are there. We had a rough time this year so we thought we would take it easy and stay home. We missed our family. We had a nice day of ham sandwiches and old Christmas movie watching. I have to say that I am REALLY glad to have been free from all of the food temptations at relative's houses. I have managed to stick to 1800 calories for 6 days now. I have lost 2#s. Woot!

So, I had been reading these threads and have come across the term "c25k" a few times. I googled it and I am so excited about trying it! Being able to run at least 3 miles is one of my goals. Has anyone else done this?

For the girl who asked for support, I too will be praying for you. If you need anything that I can help with other than prayer, please let me know. No one here (family/friends) is as gung-ho to get in shape as I am. I get the feeling people are annoyed with me for talking about fitness and calories. Oh well.

-Mel.

Thanks Mel...your support means a lot! :) I get the feeling some people around me are tired of hearing about the diet plans and my plan to change too so its good to have a place to come to for support and "talk" to people who are as excited as I am ! :) wtg on the 2 pounds! :woohoo: I have signed up on the Biggest Loser Spring Challenge on this board and I am excited about that! :carrot:

MEL ~ that's exactly why we all come here; becuz we all are talking about our health and weight and what we eat and so on. We have this in common so we can support each other in our journey to good health. Sorry, you didn't get to see family; but you did spend your day with your own family and that is nice too. :D

:tree: We just spent another quiet day at home resting today. Spent a good part of the afternoon helping DH figure out what was wrong with his dvd player (as I had given him some new movies for Christmas). Turns out there was nothing wrong with it; he just keeps forgetting to turn the TV to GAMES mode when using the dvd player. He keeps getting confused with the VCR which uses channel 3; so I taped a note to the top of our both dvd players as a reminder for the future as we go thru this every 6 months or so. :lol:

:ginger: We had lovely leftovers for dinner tonight (like a cottage pie, and heated in the oven); boy, I am sure my stomach has shrunk becuz I can't eat too much or my tummy feels very yucky. We got a new kind of coffee and it has been ruff on my stomach as it is way too strong (I won't mention the brand); so I will be drinking Postum for a while until my tummy feels better. I also noticed that my stomach doesn't like certain foods anymore; even just one small piece of shortbread can upset it now; go figure!


PINK ~ I am so glad that you are feeling better, and that you were able to spend Christmas with some caring people like that. Too bad there isn't a Christian group at your school. We had one and it as a great way to make Christian friends (it was called a Christian Friendship Club) -- we did fun social things together: had lunch together, chatted on the phone, went shopping together, walking together, bowling together, and so on. :hug:

Anyhow, we are having very mild temps here right now; had a little ***** fall overnight, but not much. Don't know how long this will last though ... ;)

:wave: HI TO ALL OUR FELLOW CE'ers and to all our NEWBIES ~ just keep posting and we will get to know you all in time. We are thrilled to have you all join us here on our thread. Hope you all are having a great week; take good care of you and yours ... :hug: ROSEBUD :hug:

It has been a pretty tough Christmas season but probably not as tough as others or more than others. First Christmas without my Dad...I made a nice ornament with his picture and placed it on tree with my Mom, Tims Mom, My Uncle,and my sister in law.

My son is here and has talked to his wife a few times in Colorado. Thank goodness we have a flat rate for long distance!! Not sure what is going on there--- I figure he will talk when he is ready. I just hope he can think straight and do what is right for him.

I have a ham in the oven and we will have a "sort of" Christmas dinner now with him. Took the tree down this afternoon and now it looks like just another day around here.

Take care everyone.

HEY KAREN ~ did you get a new puppy? Oh, she looks just like my SWEETIE ... and sooooooo cute!!! :D

Hi Rosebud---No, she is my brothers new puppy. He had a standard poodle that was about 13 years old that he had to have put down before Thanksgiving. He had been looking for this certain type of dog---a Coton De' Tulear---- that is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed at all. I found a place that raises them not far from here and he went down to take a look. Of course then he just had to take her. Her name is Angel. She will get no bigger than 10 pounds and right now she weighs 2.1 pounds!! Her hair feels just like silk. So Cute... This is another picture of her where you can see her face better.